Honolulu, Hawaii – The State of Hawaii, Department of Defense (State DOD) has announced that new partners have joined in the collaborative effort to study energy efficiency and grid operations in Hawaii. Asia-Pacific Institute for Resilience & Sustainability (AIRS), Hawai`i Pacific University, Swansea University’s Network Science Research Center (NSRC), Synerscope, Furciferi Versuti, and Sensemaking-PACOM Fellowship have joined in with the State of Hawaii’s Governor’s Office, State DOD (Office of Homeland Security), Hawaiian Electric, Mehta Tech Inc, IBM i2, IBM Center for Resiliency and Sustainability, Pacific Disaster Center (managed by the University of Hawaii), and U.S. Pacific Command to study the potential enhancement of the security, reliability, and dependability of the electric grid on Oahu and ways to apply analytics to better predict potential risks and issues, such as natural disasters.

The collaborators are using advanced network/relationship science principles and related technologies to provide necessary solutions and services focused upon Big Data acquisition and analytics. “Energy is the lifeblood of Hawaii,” said Major General Darryll Wong, Hawaii state adjutant general, Director of Hawaii Emergency Management Agency and Homeland Security advisor. “At the core of everything we do is energy, which impacts water, sewage, cyber and so much more.”

By using an integrated approach that incorporates both operational and transformational information technologies, the collaborators will examine how to improve the overall grid reliability and bridge the gap between efforts to integrate alternative energy solutions and efficiently manage consumption.

As part of this study, Hawaiian Electric and its collaborators will also evaluate Mehta Tech’s Irwin technologies as well as IBM’s Enterprise Insights, Watson Foundation technologies, and other IBM i2 technologies to help them analyze data, such as weather patterns, and predict outages before they occur. These technologies represent a comprehensive, integrated set of Big Data and Analytics capabilities that enables clients to find and capitalize on actionable insights.

Preliminary results from the collaboration are expected to be available in 2015.
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